The long-term implications of Bure to Florida

Fourteen years later: Ed Jovanovski and Kevin Weekes
 were two of Vancouver's key acquisitions in the 1999 trade.

It will continue to be the main sticking point for detractors of Pavel Bure's upcoming jersey retirement -- the trade.

Simply put, Bure wanted out. And that's gonna leave a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths long after November 2. But regardless of who was at fault for Bure's relationship with the team deteriorating, the trade ushered in a new era that the Canucks badly needed at the time.

Bald-deep in the Messier nightmare, Vancouver was a mainstay in the Western Conference basement. Rather than continue to shape the team around Bure, the trade allowed for then-marginal players like Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi to develop in the team's go-to guys. It is, in fact, no coincidence that Naslund emerged as the team's leading scorer the same year Bure was dealt.

After an initial close call with the Rangers, Brian Burke succeeded in dealing the Russian Rocket, sending him to Florida, along with veteran defenceman Bret Hedican, prospect defenceman Brad Ference and a third-round pick in 2000.

Here's what Vancouver got in return:

Vancouver Canucks on Canada's Junior Team – All-time list

To follow up the last blog post, I thought it would be worth seeing the all-time pool from which the Canucks' All-Canadian WJC Team was chosen.  All told, there have been 27 Canucks prospects to have played for Canada at the World Juniors.  (Again, not including players to be drafted by the Canucks after their WJC appearance.)  Among those, four have played in back-to-back years – Brent Tully (1993–94), Chad Allan (1995–96), Brad Ference (1998–99) and Luc Bourdon (2006–07).* 

The first player ever to play for Canada's under-twenties as a Canucks prospect?  None other than West Coast Express architect Marc Crawford (1981).  The Crow played in the World Juniors in the last year that Canada was automatically represented by the CHL's Memorial Cup-winning team.  He is also one of three Canucks prospects to wear the "C" for Canada – the others being Jim Sandlak (1986) and Brent Tully (1994).

In total, three Canucks prospects have cracked the WJC All-Star Team for Canada – Tully (1994), Bourdon (2006) and Cody Hodgson (2008) – while Jim Sandlak stands alone in having won any of the IIHF directorate's awards as Best Forward (1986).

The 1994 and 1998 tournaments marked all-time highs for Canucks representing Canada's juniors with four in each year.  Meanwhile, there have been 20 instances since the first official tournament in 1977 that Canada was without a Canucks representative, including the current four-year spell. Conversely, a Canuck hopeful was present in eight straight Team Canadas from 1992–99.

On that note and without further ado...

-HC

*Brandon Reid played in 2000, before having been drafted, and again in 2001 as a Canucks prospect.